The present invention pertains to a resetting device for pedals of a motor vehicle, which pedals are mounted on an axis of rotation, with a spring element, which is fixed on a mount at the pedal, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, on a mount that is rigidly connected to the body.
Various designs of pedals of a motor vehicle for actuating the brake, clutch and gas with have been known from the state of the art. The spring elements usually comprise tension springs, which are hung with one of their ends into a mounting device at the pedal and the other free end is articulated to a hook or the like on the body. Besides tension springs, resetting devices equipped with compression springs have also been known, especially in the case of resetting devices for electronic module units for scanning the position of the gas pedal and transmitting the data thus obtained to downstream assembly units (E gas modules). Due to the springs used, there is a hysteresis effect between the pedal actuation by the user and the resetting movement by the articulated spring, which is decisive for the feeling of actuation during the use of the pedal arrangement in question. The hysteresis occurring and consequently the pedal feel resulting therefrom is set in the resetting devices known from the state of the art by the predetermined springs and is consequently not adjustable or variable. Moreover, the resetting devices of this type do not have the possibility of increasing the hysteresis between the two actuation directions of the pedal in question.
The object of the present invention is therefore to improve a resetting device of the type corresponding to this class for pedals of motor vehicles such that the hysteresis between the actuation directions of the pedal, which is caused by the resetting springs used, can be made variable with a simple design and in an inexpensive manner.
Thus, a possible solution according to the present invention is seen in that at least one spring-loaded friction element with at least one friction surface pair, which comprises mutually corresponding friction surfaces, is arranged between the pedal and the body.
According to another suggestion, provisions are made, moreover, for arranging between the pedal and the body at least one spring-loaded friction element with at least one friction surface pair, which comprises mutually corresponding friction surfaces, which form an acute angle of skew with the plane of rotation of the pedal.
In conjunction with the friction surfaces, which are designed, e.g., as planes or as surfaces with a curved shape, the friction element guarantees an increase in the hysteresis between the actuation direction of the pedal and its resetting movement. Regardless of the resetting springs used, differently dimensioned springs can be used here in the friction element without problems, and the rates of the springs guarantee, in conjunction with different angles of skew, an individual adaptation of the feeling of actuation of the pedal to different requirements. In addition, an additional damping of the resetting movement of the pedal can be brought about by the design according to the present invention.
It proved to be particularly advantageous in this connection for the angle of skew between the plane of the friction surface and the plane of rotation of the pedal to have a value in the range of 0.5–10°.
Provisions are made in an inexpensive design for the friction element to be formed from two cylindrical sections of different diameters, which adjoin one another, wherein the cylindrical section with the smaller diameter is designed as a mount, which receives a compression spring, and the cylindrical section with the larger diameter has the friction surface on its free front surface facing away from the other section. According to the present invention, the cylindrical section with the larger diameter may be a cylinder cut off obliquely as well as a circular cylinder cut off obliquely.
This design protects, on the one hand, the compression spring for generating the frictional forces from buckling movements and, on the other hand, the necessary friction surface on the front side of the cylindrical section with the larger diameter can be dimensioned as a sufficiently large surface, and a compact, space-saving design of the entire friction element can be guaranteed. In the design being described, the friction element is mounted, if necessary, in a pot-shaped mount, which is designed as an integral component of the corresponding motor vehicle pedal, and the second friction surface corresponding to the friction surface of the friction element is arranged on the side of the pedal, e.g., on a holding device for the said pedal.
An exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be explained in greater detail below on the basis of the drawings attached. In the view in the figures, individual areas were shown only as details, so that a synoptic view of the motor vehicle pedal including its mounting or mount at the body is not shown.
The various features of novelty which characterize the invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and specific objects attained by its uses, reference is made to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which a preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated.
In the drawings:
Referring to the drawings in particular,
The resetting device shown is equipped according to the present invention with a spring-loaded friction element 12. The friction element 12 is arranged between the pedal 1 and the wall 3 in the embodiment being shown, and the spring 19 (see
The design of the friction element 12 is shown in
To generate frictional forces of varying strengths, this compression spring 19 may be provided in different designs and with different rigidities in the friction element. Moreover, the design of the oblique friction surface 14 offers the possibility of making the pedal feel during the pivoting of the pedal correspondingly variable by increasing or decreasing the friction forces. The skew of the friction surface 13 on the friction element 12 is adapted to the friction surface 14. Another possibility of varying the properties of the friction surface is to correspondingly select the friction pair, i.e., the material of the surfaces that are in contact with one another.
While specific embodiments of the invention have been shown and described in detail to illustrate the application of the principles of the invention, it will be understood that the invention may be embodied otherwise without departing from such principles.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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101 05 265 | Feb 2001 | DE | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/DE02/00330 | 1/31/2002 | WO | 00 | 10/1/2002 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
WO02/061520 | 8/8/2002 | WO | A |
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6070490 | Aschoff et al. | Jun 2000 | A |
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6295891 | Velte et al. | Oct 2001 | B1 |
6725741 | Menzies | Apr 2004 | B1 |
6860170 | DeForest | Mar 2005 | B1 |
Number | Date | Country |
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694 08 945 | Jun 1998 | DE |
197 51 520 | Oct 1999 | DE |
0 943 835 | Sep 1999 | EP |
1 033 275 | Sep 2000 | EP |
2 349 447 | Nov 2000 | GB |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20030097899 A1 | May 2003 | US |